


Cor Leonis Brings Home a Smoothie

by Raberba girl (Raberba_girl)



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Baby Prompto Argentum, Cor Leonis is Prompto Argentum's Parent, Don’t copy to another site, Gen, MT Prompto Argentum, Not Canon Compliant, Parent Cor Leonis, Rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:55:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22218154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raberba_girl/pseuds/Raberba%20girl
Summary: Inspired by my friend's artwork of Cor bringing home a certain MT toddler. Not canon-compliant.
Relationships: Prompto Argentum & Cor Leonis
Comments: 76
Kudos: 587





	1. Cor Leonis Brings Home a Smoothie

Cor Leonis Brings Home a Smoothie

(rough draft)

A Final Fantasy XV fanfic by Raberba girl

****If you paid money to read this work of fanfiction, that means it was stolen and reposted without the author's knowledge or consent. Please do not support apps or web sites that repost without permission and/or illegally profit off of other people's work.**

_Inspired by breezy-cheezy (Medli45)_

Summary: Inspired by my friend's artwork of Cor bringing home a certain MT toddler. Not canon-compliant.

**A/N: I'm not an expert on FF15; I watched the game rather than played it, and the rest of my knowledge is based on other people's fanfics and Wikipedia, but Breezy's art was so cute I couldn't help myself. XD** I've been wanting to try out the MT-Prompto trope ever since I was introduced to it; finally figured out how to do it when I saw Bre's version.

**[The art that inspired this](https://breezy-cheezy.tumblr.com/post/189660014603/i-said-i-really-wanted-to-draw-this-anddddd-i), which was in turn inspired by a Tumblr post which was, itself, inspired by _iCarly_.**

**Trigger warning for dead children and other trope-typical nastiness.**

o.o.o

Cor was glad that suppressing the gag reflex had been part of Crownsguard training, because never before in his life had he so keenly felt the need to throw up.

They'd been in the facility for nearly two hours now, collecting what evidence they could. They had apparently triggered some kind of self-destruct mode for the place, so there was not much left to salvage, but they were still going through the wreckage. Already, they had learned a lot. Already, they had learned far, far more than Cor ever wanted to know. When he'd opened that first storage pod and a dead toddler had come toppling out, sprawling across his feet....

Actually, he _had_ thrown up then, but now that he knew what to expect, he let the rest of the squad know and then ruthlessly suppressed his gag reflex as he opened storage pod after storage pod and carried one tiny corpse after another to be laid out on the floor. Each child looked identical to the others, so they were probably clones, but of course that did nothing to lighten the horror. They were still people, _children_ , practically babies. Words could not express Cor's relief when a couple of other men came to take over and he was able to head out again.

There had been a lot of pods back there. If all of them contained...MTs in the making, there wasn't going to be nearly enough room in the truck to transport all the bodies. They'd only be able to take a few for study, and the rest would have to be buried or cremated here.

_'Focus.'_ Cor stepped over debris, illuminated dark crevices, read door labels, and looked for more evidence. The Nifs had tried to cover up all the unholy work they were doing here, but their destruction wasn't thorough and there were still things left to salvage. It-- To _him_ , at least, it wouldn't be worth the knowledge that their attack had caused the deaths of children (so, so many children...), but at least the mission wasn't _entirely_ worthle--

Adrenaline shot through him and he instantly brought up his gun. Nothing happened, and he blinked and processed what he'd subconsciously reacted to.

Red eyes. MT.

But...it wasn't an MT, it was a child. He had fluffy blond hair like the others--

He was ALIVE. The child was looking at him, he was _alive_ , and Cor lurched forward in a sort of panic to make sure this one didn't end up dead, too.

The boy was naked, strapped down to a medical table, surrounded by the smoking remains of equipment and machines. Cor distractedly remembered that this chamber had been labeled as a 'Decommissioning Room;' the self-destruct sequence must have started right in the middle of...whatever had been happening here. The door was wide open. This boy had been strapped down and hooked up and then the facility started self-destructing and whoever was in here had fled, and how long had this little one been tied down, cold and waiting be found by enemy forces or die?!

"It's all right now, it's all right now," Cor muttered in a shaky voice, unfastening the restraints. The child was staring at him with huge eyes, red like an MT's but filled with life, face stiff with dried tear tracks. "I'm not going to hurt you, we need to get you out of here...."

The second the boy was free, Cor struggled out of his jacket, wrapped it around the little one, and lifted him up. The boy didn't move or make a sound or even cry again, simply staring at him with those huge eyes. "Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Is that why you're not crying anymore, because you're dehydrated?" Shifting the boy into one arm, he worked his water flask free and held it to the boy's lips.

There was no response, just more staring. Cor tipped the flask a little; clear liquid trickled out, spilling down the boy's chin. The child's eyes widened even more and he jerked back with a cough.

There was a pause. The boy looked at Cor, and Cor looked at the boy. The boy looked at the flask. Cor held it to his lips again, and this time the boy swallowed, then coughed again. Cor coaxed more water into him until the boy finally slumped against him, looking at the flask with something like dread.

"Had your fill, huh?" He put the flask away and the child's eyes closed. Cor wasn't sure what to do now. He stood there holding the little boy, staring down at him. He'd never held something that felt more precious and vulnerable than this. "We need to get you some clothes."

He eventually found a chamber that looked a bit like a locker room. One compartment contained clothing that fit the tiny boy in his arms, so Cor set down the child and dressed him as the little one stared. "There. Is that warmer?"

The boy looked down at himself, then back at Cor. He took a step closer to Cor and kept staring.

"All right...all right, well...." Cor straightened up, took the child by the hand, and started walking. The little one toddled after him, though it soon became clear that his pace was slow. It was cute, but Cor was getting antsy stuck in this awful facility, so he picked up the boy again and strode back to the pod room.

All four of his people had gathered there; two were conferring together as one typed rapidly into his phone and another crouched at the end of the line of corpses, reaching with tender sadness to smooth back the hair of the one at the end. When the Crownsguard noticed his approach, several of them started to speak at once, but the next moment, they all fell silent in unison and stared.

"Found him abandoned in a 'Decommissioning Room,' " Cor explained. "We must have interrupted the...procedure." He suddenly realized that the child was staring at all the dead clones, and he realized too late that he prooooobably shouldn't have let the kid see them.

He was distracted by his soldiers, who were drawn like moths to light, cooing softly and reaching for the child, a spark of hope in the midst of this place of horrors. The boy, seeing only reaching hands and unfamiliar faces, flinched and hid his face in Cor's chest, tiny fists closing on his shirt.

"Awww, sweet baby," Loren crooned, fingers gently carding through soft yellow hair. "We're really happy to see you, you know?"

"He's the only one?" Hideki questioned.

"The only one I've found," Cor confirmed. "Back up a bit, you're all scaring him."

Sasha was typing on his phone again. "I was able to restore some records. According to this, the kids...the level one MTs...are all accounted for, but let me--" He studied the screen a minute, then leaned to get a close look at the boy's right wrist. He typed in the number that was tattooed there, then nodded. "He's on the list of units scheduled for decommissioning. Looks like we got to him in the nick of time."

Cor didn't mean for his arms to tighten a little around the child at that statement, but...they did.

"We've been here too long," Hideki said. "There are probably enemy forces marching toward us as we speak."

"Yeah, we're getting out of here; just--" Cor knelt down and set the boy on his feet. The child lifted up his head but didn't relinquish his grip on Cor's clothes. "Listen, kid," Cor murmured. "We're leaving, and we're never coming back. If...if you were friends with any of these little guys, well...this'll be your only chance to say goodbye."

Claudius made dubious noises about the wisdom of showing a toddler the dead bodies of his fellow clones, but the boy himself didn't seem upset. He looked out at the line of corpses, then back at Cor, his expression wary.

"Did you guys ever...play together, or talk to each other, or...anything?" Cor asked helplessly.

The child, staring up at him with those big red puppy eyes, looked deeply unhappy. Finally he let go of Cor and took a few uncertain steps toward the bodies, shivering a little. He looked between the Lucians and the dead children, then lay down at the end of the line and closed his eyes, his body going limp.

He looked like just another corpse, and Cor felt a surge of horror. He was already leaping to snatch up the baby as his companions exclaimed in alarm.

For a wild moment, he wasn't completely sure he had the right child, he had the sickening sense that he'd just picked up a dead body, but then the boy's eyes flew open and he stared up at Cor in a mix of relief and alarm, fingers clenching on bits of his shirt again.

"No, kid, _no_ , I didn't mean--! Agh; let's get out of here."

o.o.o

It was a long trek back to the transport vehicle, which they'd had to leave at a distance in order to avoid detection. Cor reluctantly agreed when Claudius offered to take a turn carrying the child, but when Cor tried to hold him out, both tiny fists maintained their grip on his shirt.

He stared, then experimentally held the kid out again. The boy didn't move or even bother to look up, but he didn't let go, either. "...Guess that's a 'no,' Claudius," he finally admitted.

Claudius smiled and ruffled the boy's hair, then they all continued on.

It was a relief to make it back to the truck. The three bundled-up bodies and the packs of evidence they'd collected were all stowed away, then there was a bit of an argument about who would have to drive - not because anyone minded driving, but because everyone wanted to ride in the back with the baby. Sasha lost rock-paper-scissors, so he got in the front and everyone else filed in the back after Cor.

The child tensed when the truck started, but still didn't make a sound or look up. "Can you talk, kid?" Cor wondered.

Hideki said something in Nif, and the boy abruptly sat up, staring. Then he scrambled out of Cor's lap and stood at attention, saluting, but had barely begun to reply when the truck's movement sent him stumbling. Cor caught him again, and the boy stared up at him. He said something soft and tentative in what was presumably Nif.

"He wants to know if he's been 'reassigned,' " Hideki translated. "To what, I'm not sure."

"You're being rescued," Cor explained. "We're taking you somewhere safe."

Hideki relayed this in Nif, but the kid only blinked slowly and frowned a little in confusion.

"I'm Cor," Cor said, pointing to himself. "That's Hideki, Loren, and Claudius, and Sasha is the one up there driving. What's your name?"

The little boy pointed uncertainly at him. "Cor?"

"You got it."

The boy then pointed at himself and said something brief. Hideki responded, then the boy held out his tattooed wrist toward Cor. Cor stared at it.

Hideki briefly closed his eyes. "I asked him what his name was."

Cor scowled and tapped the barcode. " _This_ is not a name, kid. Did they ever even bother to give you one?"

The boy had shrunk back a little and was staring at Cor, looking frightened. He didn't respond. He did answer Hideki's question, though.

"He says that names are for humans."

"Yeah, and you're human, so--" Cor burst out in horrified frustration.

"We could just name him ourselves," Loren suggested.

They all looked at her, and she shrugged. "Let's call him Prompto," Sasha called from the front.

"After the video game character?!" Claudius exclaimed.

"I like Prompto," Loren offered. "Both the character and the name."

No one really had any other suggestions, so, "Prompto, then," Cor said decisively, even though he had no idea which video game the younger Crownsguard were even talking about.

"That's you, buddy," Claudius said warmly, now holding the child in his lap. "Prompto! That's you! Hello, Prompto!"

Prompto stared at him and then at the others. Then he saluted uncertainly.

It was a long drive, and the four in the back took turns holding the baby until he started to nod off. Before he got too sleepy to keep his eyes open, they tried various things to get him to smile. No one was successful, but he did stare in fascination as Hideki made various string figures and Loren sang some nursery rhymes and Claudius performed simple magic tricks.

They reached the edge of Lucis at nearly three in the morning. Hideki went to rent a couple of rooms as Sasha insisted on belatedly having a turn, his expression growing soft and gentle as Cor helped settle the sleeping toddler in his arms. "How could anyone hurt a kid like this?"

"Beats me," Cor grumbled. He didn't even like kids, always felt awkward and giantish around them, but the thought of hurting one or even disappointing one was horrifying to him.

The other three men agreed to share one of the rooms to free up the other for Loren, Cor, and Prompto. Cor spent so much time fussing over the little one, making sure he was tucked in and comfortable and warm, that Loren finished getting ready for bed and turned out the light for her half of the room before Cor finally realized he ought to sleep himself. They'd have to be up again in a few hours, and he shouldn't risk waking the child.

o.o.o

Cor woke up because of an unusual noise. It was an important noise, but it was quiet and he couldn't place it at first. Then he remembered: mission, dead kids, motel room, living kid. A kid who was currently sitting up in the bed next to him, tears streaming steadily from huge wet red eyes. The child's soft gasps for breath were what had woken him.

Cor had to climb around Prompto to reach the lamp for their half of the room. "Hey, kid, no, it's okay, it's just us. We rescued you, remember? No more evil child abusing murderers, they're all gone."

Loren was awake by now, too, sliding out of the bed she was using to come sit with Cor and Prompto. Cor was awkwardly patting the boy's head.

"Hey, baby," Loren crooned, laying a hand on Prompto's arm. "You have a nightmare? Or you just woke up in a strange place with people you don't know and got scared? Or both?"

Prompto simply stared up at her. Cor was regretting not rooming with Hideki instead, but too late now; he wasn't going to disturb another of his men's sleep just to get some translations. It was easy to guess why the child was upset. "Let me...get you some water," he fumbled.

It was something of a disaster at first: the child had trouble holding onto the cup he was offered and looked stricken when water spilled down his front. Cor steadied the cup for him and held it to his lips, but then Prompto choked on the liquid as if he didn't know how to swallow. Cor then tried it with his flask instead of a cup, and after Prompto successfully downed a few sips, Cor set the flask down again. His relief was echoed on the boy's face. Maybe his efforts to help had traumatized the poor kid again, but at least he wasn't crying anymore.

"Too bad we don't have a stuffed animal for him," Loren remarked. She picked up a spare pillow and nestled it against the child, wrapping his arms around it. Prompto squeezed, and his tiny fingers gripped the pillowcase. He stared at Cor and Loren with those huge eyes.

"Soft, huh?" Cor said lamely.

Then they all just sat for a while. Cor finally turned on the TV, lowering the volume and settling on some mindless-looking children's cartoon. The boy stared.

After a while, Loren got back into bed and pulled the covers over her face, telling Cor to wake her again if she was needed. Cor continued to sit, watching the little boy stare at the TV screen.

After more than half an hour, Prompto's eyes started to drift closed. His body jerked and he wrenched his eyes back open, staring at the TV.

Cor turned it off. Prompto jumped again and stared at him.

"Time to sleep," Cor said, taking hold of the child and laying him down.

Prompto kept staring at him, still clutching the pillow as Cor pulled the blanket over him. "Come on, kid. I'm not gonna sing you any lullabies, but I know you're tired." He set a hand on the child's tiny back and rubbed back and forth. After a long moment, Prompto squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again and looked at Cor anxiously. Cor set his hand over the boy's eyes and gently nudged them closed. "Go to sleep."

This time, the eyes stayed closed, and after a while, Prompto relaxed. When Cor was sure he was asleep, he turned the light off and lay down again, listening to the child's breathing until he finally fell asleep himself.

o.o.o

Hours later, Prompto was sitting up and watching anxiously, clutching his pillow, as the adults went about getting ready to leave. Hideki and the others soon arrived, saying they'd already packed up and vacated their own room, and someone suggested that Prompto might need a bath. It hadn't even occurred to Cor to bathe the child, but now that he thought about it, Prompto was probably as grimy as the rest of them had been after their long, stressful night.

The little boy showed no objection to or distress about being undressed, but he did cringe and curl up a bit when Claudius picked him up and started lowering him into the bath. A minute later, his red eyes opened wide and he stared at the water he was sitting in, tentatively patting at it with his hand.

"You like that, kiddo?" Claudius cooed as he picked up the bottle of cheap motel shampoo. "It's nice and warm, huh?"

Loren scooped up a cup of water to carefully wet the child's hair. Prompto stared in surprise, but thankfully didn't freak out like some babies did. He even made grabby hands at the cup and looked pleased when Loren repeated the gesture.

He did cringe at the first touch of shampoo on his head, but after a minute, he uncringed and stared craning his neck, trying to see what Claudius was doing to his hair.

"Ah ah ah, stop squirming, kiddo, you don't want to get this stuff in your eyes! It's not baby shampoo, it'll hurt."

"See if this will distract him," Hideki suggested, leaning over the others to hold out a set of keys to the child.

That did the trick. Prompto seemed utterly fascinated and forgot about the fingers scrubbing through his hair as he ran the keys through his hands, jiggled them in his palms, and repeatedly dropped them into and retrieved them from the water. He made a soft noise of distress when he was clean and the keys were taken away again, then looked up at the adults anxiously when the plug was pulled and water started to drain away.

"All done!" Loren announced, lifting him out of the tub. Claudius wrapped up the boy in a towel in the next moment, then grinned as he turned to Cor, who had been hovering in the doorway. "Here, Marshal, hold him while I dry his hair."

Cor was startled to suddenly find himself with a bundle of child in his arms. He and Prompto stared at each other as Claudius worked on his hair and Loren went to rummage in her bag.

"Shame to put him back in these dirty clothes," Hideki fussed, looking at the child-sized clothes from the cloning facility. Cor wished he had thought to bring extras.

"We'll make do," Loren said, coming back with one of her own tank tops and a pair of pajama shorts.

It took some clever tying and a few safety pins, but they eventually got the child dressed. Prompto stood there, looking adorably ridiculous with his makeshift outfit and disheveled yellow hair as he anxiously stared up at all the adults towering over him.

"Maybe we should have done breakfast before the bath," Sasha said as he brandished a plastic travel container of cereal. He'd raided the continental breakfast and come back with enough for everyone, spreading it all out on the table.

"Okay, kid, time to eat," Cor said, picking up the little boy again.

He hadn't meant to be the one to actually feed the kid, but somehow everyone else was already eating. He looked at the nervous child, then at the food. "Well...I guess pick whatever you want."

Prompto looked at him.

Hideki said something in Nif, presumably a translation. The boy stared at the food, then at him. Hideki spoke again, sounding encouraging, and after several seconds of urging, the child tentatively reached for a biscuit. He squeezed it in his hands, and looked delighted for one second until the biscuit fell apart. The boy looked up at the adults. Seeming dismayed by the expressions on their faces, he hastily tried to push the pieces of biscuit back together again, then started to outright panic when it only crumbled further.

"Okay, forget the biscuit," Cor said, pushing it aside. "Here, do you want cereal?" Kids liked cereal, right? He picked the most obnoxiously sugary-looking one and opened it, setting it in front of the boy. Prompto stared at it, then at him, trembling. "It's to eat. You can have milk with it if you want, or not; it's up to you."

Prompto's eyes darted to Hideki, who translated. Understanding dawned across the child's face and he opened his mouth. After a disconcerted moment, Cor picked up a single piece of dry cereal and gently placed it on the boy's tongue.

Prompto stared at him like he was crazy. After a minute, he suddenly looked surprised. His attention turned inward as he sucked, probably savoring the sweet taste. After a while, though, the surprised interest faded and he started to look anxious again, staring up at Cor. Saliva began to leak from the corners of his mouth.

"You can swallow it, you know," Cor said warily. It was like the boy didn't even know how to eat. Cor ate a piece of the (disgusting) cereal himself, to demonstrate. After a long, hesitation, the boy's throat worked.

Then he started choking.

After that little drama finally ended, Prompto sat shaking in Cor's lap, face a mess with saliva and soggy cereal chunks, tears _streaming_ from his utterly miserable eyes. The adults were all clustered around, hovering helplessly. Loren started to pet Prompto's hair, but stopped at his violent flinch.

"Maybe he really has never eaten anything in his life before," Sasha suggested, looking pale.

Cor felt sick. "Those damn Nifs...."

"Let's try him with the juice, at least," Hideki suggested.

Prompto finally calmed down after successfully managing to swallow, sip by sip, the contents of a carton of apple juice. By then, it was a lot later in the day than Cor had wanted their departure time to be, and the child looked ill when they tried to offer him anything else from the table.

"All right," Cor said, "we'll bring those jelly packets and see if he can handle them later; for now, we need to get going."

Loren drove this time. Claudius was the last one in the truck, and as soon as he sat down, he held something out to Prompto. The little boy stared at it.

"What the hell?" Cor remarked. The thing was a keychain, a tiny chocobo plush that he remembered hanging on a rack by the checkout desk.

"Thought he'd like it," Claudius explained.

Prompto's eyes darted around at all the adults, then slowly, he reached out to grasp the offering. He stared at it, squeezing and relaxing his fist around the plush several times.

"It's a chocobo," Sasha said. "A chocobo keychain, see? Chocobo."

"Coco," Prompto whispered, making Claudius stifle a squeal.

They wiled away the time once more trying and failing to make the child smile. Prompto's eyes were intent on everyone who sought his attention, and he never let go of the keychain. After a while, his stomach rumbled, and he stared down at it in dismay.

"Here, kid," Cor said, ripping a jelly packet with his teeth and then offering it.

It took a few tries before Prompto understood what he was supposed to do with it and then figured out how to do it without choking, but eventually he settled into sucking at the sweet substance, his eyes wide.

"He'll need something for lunch that's more substantial but easy on his stomach," Hideki mused.

Cor blinked. He hadn't been planning to stop for lunch; they were close enough now to reach Insomnia, but that was going at a soldier's pace rather than a child's. It suddenly occurred to him that Prompto would eventually need to pee - might, in fact, need to at the moment, and Cor was under the impression that children had less control over their bladders than adults did.

The discussion was continuing. "There aren't going to be a lot of options," Sasha pointed out. "We don't have time to stop at a real restaurant."

"We need to stop for gas," Cor grunted. "And for the kid to use the toilet."

They eventually found a convenience store. Claudius attempted to take Prompto around to the bathroom, but the little boy actually dropped Coco to cling to Cor with both hands, silent tears rolling down his cheeks. It meant Cor was the one stuck with the awkward task of helping the child use the toilet, but he didn't have the heart to be annoyed when they finished and Prompto buried his face in Cor's chest.

"Come on, now, that wasn't so bad. Hey, kiddo, it's okay. I won't let go of you for a while, all right? It's okay."

When he got back, he found that Loren and Sasha were holding trays of smoothies, the idea being to try different kinds with Prompto and then divide whatever wasn't his favorite between everyone else. The little boy sucked obediently at one straw after another, pausing once as his face twisted in agony.

"Ohhh no, baby, oh no, you have to go slow!" Loren said hurriedly. "It's just a brain freeze, it will go away!" She rubbed at Prompto's temples as he stared up at her with wet eyes and trembling lips. "See? You just have to drink slow, because it's _cold_ , honey!"

Hideki explained in Nif, but even so, Prompto was shaking as he slowly obeyed their urging to try again. He slipped slowly at the strawberry and the mango smoothies, then his eyes went even wider than usual at the taste of banana. He paused and stared at the cup, then practically pounced back at the straw.

"Banana it is," Sasha laughed.

Prompto sucked eagerly at his treat once they got on the road, but after only a minute or two, his eyes started to droop closed. He soon fell asleep in Cor's arms, one hand curled around Coco and the other gripping Cor's shirt.

o.o.o

Cor knew better by now than to even try to put the kid down or hand him off to someone else.

Prompto had to be present when he made his report, anyway, so he left his men to type up their own written reports and marched off toward the king's study, Prompto in one arm and the rest of the boy's lunch in his other hand. Prompto woke up at the sensation of his purposeful strides, so his MT-red eyes were open when Cor entered the room. "Your Majesty," he greeted. "Clarus."

The king and his Shield stared. "Cor," Regis said slowly. "Welcome back."

"Thank you, sir," Cor said, standing up even straighter. The other men obviously couldn't tear their eyes away from what he held.

"...I see you have not returned empty-handed."

"We found a great deal of value."

Clarus huffed out a breath. "Cor, what _is_ that?"

Cor felt his teeth clenching. Prompto was not a 'that.' "A smoothie," he said defiantly.

Regis and Clarus stared at him. "A smoothie," Clarus finally repeated, his voice flat.

"Yes." Cor brought the straw closer to Prompto, who eagerly leaned to suck on it even as he kept tight hold of Cor's shirt. The ring at the end of Coco's chain was hooked on one of the boy's tiny thumbs. "As you can see."

"...Perhaps you had better tell the story from the beginning," Regis said.

So Cor did.

o.o.o

A/N: Gonna end it here for now, though just letting you know that Cor does go on to adopt Prom. :) Might or might not ever write more in this AU, I don't have any ideas for it at the moment and I have other projects I need to be working on, but who knows.


	2. A Smoothie Is Brought Home By Cor Leonis

A Smoothie Is Brought Home By Cor Leonis

(rough draft)

A Final Fantasy XV fanfic by Raberba girl

Summary: _Cor Leonis Brings Home a Smoothie_ from Prompto's POV.

o.o.o

Cold. It's so cold.

05953234 was scared when they brought him here because they said 'decommission' and he knows that means he failed too many times and now he's going to be dead. They took off his clothes and tied him to the table and he was cold and he waited for it to hurt.

But then the intruder alarms started going off and they ran, and the level fives marched after them to deal with the intruders. It was cold and he was alone.

Then the alarms changed to the self-destruct ones, and it scared him because he only ever heard those in training but these were real. The machines to decommission him started bursting and sparking and smoking and that scared him, too.

Then the alarms went silent. He was cold. He heard distant shooting for a while, and sometimes shouts; it went on for a long time.

It's quiet now, and he's very cold. He waits for them to come back and finish decommissioning him. They'll have to replace the machines first, because they broke during the self-destruct.

He's very cold.

o.o.o

He didn't know he was sleeping, but he wakes up because the footsteps are sudden and scare him. The humans are coming back to decommission him. He waits.

It's a human he's never seen before, in a different uniform, with a bit of hair on his chin. The new one points a weapon at him. He hopes it will be faster and less painful than the machines.

The new one doesn't shoot. He runs and he pulls at the ties, and...then...the ties come off. They're off. 3234's arms and legs tingle, but he tries not to move because he doesn't know if it's permitted.

The new one takes off one of his clothes and puts it on 3234. It's heavy and...warm. It's so warm. The new one picks him up and he's warm now.

The new one says something to him. He says something, but...3234 doesn't understand. It sounds like words, but he doesn't understand any of the words and now he's scared because his hearing is malfunctioning. He thought maybe they decided not to decommission him after all, but now his hearing is malfunctioning. The new one will be angry and take the warm heavy clothes away and put him back on the table. He'll tie him and decommission him, because he failed too many times and now he can't even hear correctly.

But that's not what the new one does. He takes an object and holds it close to 3234's face. It's so close to his face that he wonders if the new one wants him to do something with it, or maybe do something to him with it. But the new one doesn't do anything, and he doesn't give any orders, even ones he doesn't understand.

Finally, the new one presses the object to his lips, the top part with a small protuberance. He tips the object, and...liquid comes out. A little bit of liquid gets into his mouth and he coughs when it hits his throat.

He doesn't understand what the new one wants. His stomach squirms.

The new one shifts him so he's leaning back a little bit and he presses the object to 3234's lips again. More liquid comes out and right when he starts choking, he suddenly realizes that the new one must want him to swallow the liquid. He doesn't know why, but the object's protuberance in his mouth feels a little bit like a feeding tube, and he knows he's supposed to swallow whatever comes out of a feeding tube.

It's too late, though; he's coughing again. He failed _again_ , he can't stop failing and this is why he's being decommissioned.

But the new one doesn't put him on the table. He doesn't even get angry. He just holds the object to his mouth again, and this time, he manages to swallow. It's difficult because the liquid flows faster than food does and he nearly chokes again, but he swallows. The new one takes the object away. He watches it, waiting for it to be put in his mouth again. He's determined to be ready this time.

The new one doesn't put the object back in his mouth. He puts it away, and 3234 is relieved.

He still doesn't understand any of the words the new one says to him, but the new one doesn't get angry. He carries 3234 away.

o.o.o

The new one puts clothes on 3234. The other humans took off his clothes so they could decommission him, but now he's wearing clothes the new one put on him. The new one must not want him to be decommissioned. Maybe the new one is his new commander.

He's glad.

The new one - his commander - holds his hand. He tugs gently, so 3234 follows. This commander doesn't pull or squeeze hard like other humans do.

3234 is not very fast and he's worried he'll be punished for not being able to keep up with the commander, but then the commander picks him up, so he doesn't have to try to move his legs fast anymore.

The commander takes him to the sleeping room. He feels like his insides are sinking - he doesn't like the sleeping room. His pod is dark and small, and being shut inside always makes him feel like he's dying. Then he forgets to be unhappy about his pod because there are other humans in here, four of them. They're wearing the same uniform as the commander - maybe they're going to take him to a different facility.

Then 3234 is distracted because he sees...on the ground. All the yellow on the ground. It's hair. There are level one MT units on the ground, a lot of them, all of them except for him. Their eyes are closed and they're not moving. He wonders if they're dead.

He realizes all the humans are looking at him and he's scared. They're all coming close and reaching to touch him, and he's very scared. He closes his eyes. He wishes only the commander would touch him. This new commander is gentle.

Only one of them touches 3234, though, rubbing his head a little, and that's gentle, too. He's relieved. Then he realizes they're speaking and he opens his eyes. His hearing is still malfunctioning and he can't understand what they're saying, but if they give him an order, they'll probably look at him. He needs to see if it's him they're talking to.

Some of them are still looking at him, but the one who's talking now isn't. He's glad. The talking one has a device that he's tapping on. The one with the device looks at 3234's barcode but doesn't touch it. He taps on the device again.

The commander puts him down so he's standing. The commander says something to him, but his hearing is still malfunctioning and he can't understand. His heart beats very fast. He doesn't know what the orders are, and when he doesn't obey the commander, they'll punish him and maybe take him back to the decommissioning room. They're all looking at him, but he doesn't know what they want him to do.

Then the commander gestures at the other MTs, and then...he understands.

He swallows. The other level ones are dead, and he's a level one, so he's supposed to be dead, too. The level ones are laid out in neat lines. The last line is a little shorter, so he knows where his body is supposed to be. He goes to his assigned spot and lies down, trying to look as much like the other level ones as he can. He wonders if it's good enough, if maybe...if maybe they'll just leave him like that, and maybe...he won't really be dead, even though he looks dead. He wonders if being with the other level ones is enough, or if they're going to kill him now as he's lying here so he'll be dead for real.

He forgets to think about it anymore because someone grabs him. It's the commander. 3234 is scared, his heart beats very fast, but it doesn't hurt. The commander looks angry, though. 3234 did something wrong. He didn't understand the orders and he disobeyed without meaning to, so now he'll be punished.

But no one punishes him. The commander just keeps holding him as he gives orders to the humans, and the humans get very busy. Then the humans all walk away, and the commander's still holding him even though none of the other level ones are being held like this.

3234 doesn't understand. He's scared. But he's also relieved.

o.o.o

They walk and walk. They walk through a lot of doors, and then they walk through another door and then there are no more doors.

There are no more doors. Or walls.

They are not in anymore. They are...out. 3234 didn't even know there was an 'out' until now, where there are no more walls to be inside.

It's dark but not dark at the same time. The ceiling is very, _very_ high and it's black, but it's filled with countless tiny white lights, and one big yellow light. The lights don't shine down, but they're very bright against the black of the ceiling.

In between the ceiling and the ground is dark, and parts of the ground are dark, but other parts are white. The white parts are very bright against all the dark, and look very soft. He wants to touch them.

It's cold, he suddenly realizes. He shivers, and the commander stops to take off one of his clothes, the same one as before, and wrap it around him. 3234 is not warm, but he's not as cold now. He feels the commander's arms around him and looks at the lights and the ceiling and the soft white parts of the ground.

After a while, the commander and one of the other humans talk to each other, then the commander holds 3234 out like he's going to drop him. He doesn't drop him - the other human takes hold of him. But 3234's fingers are still holding onto the commander. He tries to let go, but his fingers are stiff and cold and they don't move.

The commander looks at him. Then he holds him out again, but 3234's fingers still won't move. He waits to be punished, but the commander doesn't punish him. He just holds 3234 close again, and the other human rubs 3234's head, and the humans start walking some more.

3234 is bad for not letting go of the commander even though the commander wanted to give him to someone else. He's bad and should be punished, but...he's glad he hasn't been punished yet.

They reach a vehicle. The humans talk to each other for a while, then they climb into the back of the vehicle. The commander is still holding him.

There's a loud noise, then the vehicle starts to shudder and growl. It scares him. He would be even more scared if the humans were not inside with him, but if the humans are here, then probably nothing bad will happen.

"Can you speak?"

It takes 3234 a second to register that he can understand the words, then he sits up quickly. His hearing isn't malfunctioning anymore. One of the humans spoke to him and he understood.

The human asked him a question. He needs to answer. He scrambles to his feet and salutes, but when he starts to say "Yes," the vehicle lurches and he nearly falls. The commander catches him. He wonders if he'll be punished for being clumsy, but the commander doesn't hurt him.

"Am I...am I being reassigned?" 3234 whispers. He hopes so. Being reassigned is better than being decommissioned, and these humans have been gentle with him so far. He hopes they're taking him away from the facility to whichever one they work at.

His heart sinks when the human who spoke to him speaks again, and he can't understand it anymore, his hearing's back to malfunctioning. But the human is speaking to the other humans this time instead of to him.

The commander speaks to 3234 and he still can't understand him.

"You are being rescued," the human 3234 can understand sometimes says. "We are taking you somewhere else."

He doesn't know what 'rescued' means.

The commander speaks some more, pointing to himself and then to the other humans. Every time he points to a human, a word is emphasized. He asks a question that 3234 doesn't understand.

3234 can't just say nothing. The commander asked him a question. He has no idea what the commander asked, but he has to say _something_.

The commander made a noise like 'Cor' when he pointed to himself. Maybe...maybe the emphasized sounds were designations. "Cor?" 3234 says hesitantly, pointing at him.

To his relief, the commander nods and says something that doesn't sound angry. Maybe 3234's guess was correct. "Are you...asking for my designation?"

"He wants to know your name," the human he can understand sometimes says.

3234 doesn't have a name, he's an MT unit. But a name is just a designation for humans, so they probably want his designation. He holds out his barcode obediently.

The commander stares at it. He doesn't look pleased. He looks angry, and 3234 tries hard to keep his wrist held out and not shake. The commander taps at the barcode, more gently than 3234 expected. He growls something, but 3234 doesn't understand what he said.

"Were you ever given a name?" the human he can understand sometimes asks.

He understands the words, but he doesn't...really understand the question. "Names are for humans," he says carefully. "I'm an MT unit."

The commander is still angry, but nobody hurts 3234. The humans speak incomprehensibly to each other for a while, then one of them pulls 3234 into his lap. He looks at 3234 and speaks to him in a bright, cheerful voice that doesn't make any sense but is...pleasant. He's looking right at 3234 and repeating a word. 'Prompto.' 3234 doesn't know what 'Prompto' means, but it seems to be important. He doesn't know what to say, so he salutes. It seems to be the right thing to do, because nobody punishes him or asks him any other questions.

The humans do strange things. They all hold him like they want to, and they all look at him and talk to him with the same strange high pitch. One of them takes out a loop of string and makes various shapes with it. The exercise has no purpose 3234 can discern, but the shapes are interesting and he likes to look at them. Another human does something very strange but pleasant with her voice, making it swoop and soar and match sounds at strategic intervals. Another human does strange and interesting things, making a bit of metal disappear and then reappear from 3234's ear and bending the end of a small piece of wire without touching it.

He starts to get tired, but he tries hard to keep his eyes open because no one gave him permission to sleep. It helps to watch the interesting things, but he still gets more and more tired, and it it's very difficult to stay awake even to watch the interesting things. It gets even more difficult when the human holding him slowly rubs a hand over his head and back, over and over.

He's sitting in a box. The box is warm and comfortable in a way he's not used to, and he thinks there's a monster wrapped around the box to guard it, but it's a nice monster who's guarding 3234 from bad things.

Then humans come, scientists and soldiers, and the monster doesn't move because it's asleep. The scientists poisoned it, so it's dying and it doesn't know it has to get up and protect him. The soldiers reach down to pull him out of the box, and they're going to take him away and decommission him because he wasn't supposed to be in the box. He didn't climb into the box, other people put him into it, but he's going to be punished for being in the box, anyway.

He opens his eyes. He's not sitting in a box anymore, and the soldiers and scientists are gone. The monster is still there, but it's not a monster anymore, it's a sleeping human. He doesn't know if the monster who's now a human is still poisoned or not.

He's still warm and comfortable even though he's not in the box anymore. It's dark, but not complete dark like his pod. Very faint light is glowing through the cracks in the covering over the window, and he's in a room. The room is filled with very strange objects he doesn't know the purpose of. He's sitting on a big table that's very soft and warm instead of the hard, cold, shiny tables he's used to. There's another big soft table nearby with another human sleeping on it.

He doesn't understand what's happening. He feels very scared. He feels tears streaming down his face even though he's not permitted to cry. He doesn't know how to stop crying. He doesn't know why he's here or who these humans are. He doesn't know what's going to happen to him.

The human on the table beside him moves. The human sits up and moves around and turns on a yellow light. The human starts talking to him. 3234 finally remembers that the human is his new commander. The commander stopped him from being decommissioned and took him away. The commander is...good. Even though he's speaking to 3234 with words he doesn't understand, the commander is still good. He pats 3234's head. It doesn't hurt.

The other human wakes up and comes to sit on the table with them. She speaks to him with soft, lilting sounds and touches his arm. She sounds like she's asking him questions, but he can't answer because he doesn't know what the questions are.

The commander gets up and goes to the other side of the room. There's a soft noise, then the commander comes back holding a container of liquid. He gives the container to 3234, but 3234 fails to hold the container correctly and his hands feel weak, and he spills some of the liquid. The commander doesn't punish him, but he holds the cup and presses it to 3234's mouth. 3234 is so stupid he doesn't understand that the commander wants him to swallow the liquid until it's too late. Even when he knows he's supposed to swallow, he's scared because he doesn't know if the liquid will hurt to drink or not. His throat seizes up and he chokes.

It hurts to choke, but he realizes now that the liquid is only water and probably won't hurt him. The commander takes the container away and then holds a different container to his lips. 3234 recognizes this one - it's the one with the protuberance that also contains water. Now he knows he's supposed to swallow, so he does, and this time, he's successful. He's relieved when the commander doesn't make him drink anymore. He's not used to drinking like this.

The female human picks up an object and presses it against him, then lifts his arms to wrap around the object. The object is very, very soft, and he squeezes it. It feels very good to hold. He looks at the humans, hoping they will permit him to continue holding the soft object. They don't take it away.

After a while, the commander stands up and turns on a device. The device has a screen that starts showing lots of moving colors and shapes that make sounds like talking. It's interesting. 3234 watches the moving colors and shapes. After a while, he thinks that maybe the shapes look a little bit like people. Not very much, but a little bit. The shapes have appendages that work the same as arms and legs, and configurations on the upper parts that resemble facial features. He wonders if the shapes are representations of new types of daemons. They're much calmer and less scary than any daemons he's seen before.

Now that he's not so scared anymore, he's getting tired again. He tries to stay awake and watch the shapes, but he doesn't understand the purpose of the video and he doesn't understand any of the movements or noises the shapes are making. He's tired. He tries hard to keep his eyes open so he won't fall asleep without permission and be punished.

He jolts when the commander turns off the screen. 3234 didn't see the commander get up or walk over to the device. He hopes he wasn't asleep for those few seconds.

The commander says something. Then he walks back to 3234 and takes hold of him, but his grip doesn't hurt. He lays 3234 down, and 3234 hopes that he might be permitted to sleep.

The commander pulls the heavy soft covering over him and speaks again. He starts to rub 3234's back in a similar way to how the human in the vehicle rubbed 3234. It makes it very difficult to stay awake.

3234 suddenly wonders if it's deliberate. He fell asleep before and wasn't punished. The commander is rubbing him like the other human did, so...maybe he wants 3234 to sleep again?

3234 has to make sure. He squeezes his eyes shut, then opens them to see if the commander is displeased or not. The commander closes 3234's eyes again. So he probably wants 3234 to sleep.

3234 sleeps.

o.o.o

When he wakes up, he's in the same place he was in when he fell asleep, but it's different now. There's more light in the room and he's the only one still on a table. One of the humans is looking into a mirror, briskly scrubbing the inside of her mouth with a stick, and the commander is buttoning the heavy outer clothes he wasn't wearing when it was dark.

There are knocking sounds at the door, then some more humans come in - they're the rest of the humans from the vehicle. The humans talk to each other, then they all look at him. He feels scared and wonders if they're going to hurt him now.

One of them goes into a small inner room and a continuous sound starts. Another one comes to him and tugs the very soft object out of his arms. He doesn't want to let go of it, but the human wants him to, so he has to. The human picks him up and carries him to the inner room. He feels even more scared.

The inner room is very small, especially with him and some of the humans in it. They take his clothes off, and now he knows they're probably going to hurt him. He tries not to cry.

He's so scared of being hurt that it takes him a long time to realize what they want him to do. They're holding him over a bowl of liquid and talking to him, but they're not putting him inside it. "This is called a 'toilet,' " explains the one who says things he understands sometimes. "It's designed to dispose of urine and feces."

3234 finally recognizes the bowl of liquid as a toilet. He's meant to urinate into it. When he does, he feels relieved. It's been a long time since he last urinated.

There's a vat on one side of the room that's been filling with clear liquid. One of the humans starts to lower him into the vat. He tries not to struggle and he waits for it to hurt, but...but--

The liquid doesn't hurt. He sits in the vat full of liquid, and...it's warm. It doesn't hurt at all and it feels...pleasant. He pats the liquid to make sure, and it's warm.

Warm liquid pours over the top of him. He stares in surprise. It didn't hurt. One of the humans poured warm liquid over him. It...it felt good. He reaches for the container without thinking, and the human pours more warm liquid over him.

A different human touches his head with a substance and he cringes, but the substance doesn't hurt, either. He tries to see what the human is doing to him, but he can't because the human is rubbing the top and the back of his head with the substance. He doesn't understand what's happening or what the humans are saying to him.

The human he can understand sometimes holds something toward him. 3234 takes the object, which is very strange and interesting. It's a metal ring with several strangely-shaped and interesting metal objects fastened to the ring. The objects slide around and around the ring when he turns it. The strangely-shaped objects feel interesting against his fingers. They feel pleasant and interesting when he tosses them in his hands, and when he drops them into the clear liquid and picks them up again. He likes the ring and the objects fastened to it.

Then the humans take the ring away. He did something wrong. He's so sad about losing the ring of interesting objects that he almost forgets to be scared of being punished, but he remembers when the vat starts to make scary sounds and the liquid starts to decrease.

The human don't look angry, though. They lift him out of the vat and he's only cold for a moment before they wrap something soft and warm around him. They give him to the commander, who holds him while the others scrub his hair with another soft cloth.

Once he's dry, they put strange clothes on him. Then they pick him up and set him at a table with an assortment of objects on it. He doesn't know what the objects are. All the humans take some of the objects, but there are still some left.

The commander tells him something. Then the one 3234 can understand sometimes says, "Pick what you want."

3234 doesn't understand. He's supposed to choose...an object? He doesn't know which one is the correct one to choose. He doesn't know what the objects are or what their purpose is.

"Go on - pick anything you like. There's no wrong choice."

No wrong choice? Maybe it's a test. But he can't not pick something, so he finally reaches for the softest-looking object. It feels strange under his hands, soft in a dry and sandy way. He squeezes, and the substance feels good between his fingers. When he loosens his hands, the object...falls apart. Pieces of it crumble away. He hopes he didn't do the wrong thing.

The humans don't look pleased. He did the wrong thing. He tries to put the object back together, but it only crumbles even more in his hands. He feels his insides tighten with fear because he did the wrong thing and now he can't fix it. It _was_ a test, and he failed, and now he's going to be punished.

The commander pushes the ruined soft thing away, but he doesn't hit 3234. He takes another one of the objects and peels off the top part, then puts the bottom part in front of 3234 like he expects 3234 to do something with it.

3234 doesn't know what to do with the object.

The commander speaks to him. 3234 wonders if maybe the one he can understand sometimes will say something he can understand.

He does, and 3234 is so grateful. "You can eat it with milk or you can eat it without milk. You can choose either option."

'Eat.' The objects are...food. They want 3234 to eat, and he's grateful because he's been hungry for a long time now. He opens his mouth and waits for one of the humans to insert a feeding tube.

No one produces a feeding tube. After a long pause, the commander takes a small flake from the object in front of 3234 and puts it into 3234's mouth.

3234 doesn't understand. They wanted him to eat, but they're not--

!!!

The taste...on his tongue...he's never tasted anything like this before...!

He sucks a little and the taste briefly intensifies. The flake is growing soggy and dissolving in his mouth. It's becoming difficult to keep the remnants of the flake in his mouth and he looks at the commander, hoping for orders.

The commander puts a flake into his own mouth. His mouth works briefly, then he swallows.

....He swallowed...the flake? ...Is 3234 supposed to swallow his own flake?

He tries, but he does a bad job. He chokes again and it hurts. His mouth opens without him meaning to, and he feels the soggy bits of the flake flying out of his mouth when he coughs. Saliva's leaking down his chin. He failed. He's not obeying orders and he's going to be punished. He doesn't know why the humans haven't punished him yet when he's done so many things wrong, but...they'll probably punish him soon. He's been doing more and more bad things to make them angry, so they'll get angry soon and punish him. They'll punish him even if they're not angry.

No one punishes him. They wipe the saliva off his face gently. Then they hold a container to his mouth and he figures out that they want him to swallow the liquid. The liquid is sharp and stinging, but it only hurts a little bit, and he's able to swallow it. It doesn't feel as bad in his stomach as it does in his mouth. After he starts to get used to it, he notices that something about the taste is a little bit like the flake, only sharper.

After the liquid in the container is gone, they hold up more objects. He imagines the objects being put in his mouth, having to swallow them, and he wants to cry. He gulps and tries to prepare to eat the objects, but the humans don't put them in his mouth after all. He's so, so grateful. He'd rather keep being hungry than have to swallow more painful substances. He wonders why he's no longer permitted to use a feeding tube.

Outside is different now. It's bright, so bright it hurts his eyes a little, and the sky is _blue_. He wants to look at it more, but the humans take him into the same vehicle they rode in before. One of the humans holds out an object toward him.

The object is small and yellow. It has a strange, incomprehensible shape. There's a small metal chain with a ring extending from one part of it. He doesn't know what the object is.

He looks around at all the humans, who seem expectant. They want him to do something with the object. He takes the object, hoping that the purpose will become apparent.

The purpose does not become apparent, but the object feels pleasant to hold. It's soft. When he squeezes it, it doesn't fall apart like the dry sandy object did. This new object goes back to its former shape even when he squeezes it again.

One of the humans points to the object and says something. 3234 doesn't know what he's saying, but the human repeats a particular word three times while pointing to the object. The word must be the name of the object. 3234 tries to repeat the name, but it's difficult to say. "Coco." The humans look pleased.

The vehicle starts to move, and the humans look at him while they do more strange things like the string shapes and the voice-swooping from before. He doesn't know why they're doing those things, or if he's supposed to do anything in response, but they never get angry.

He holds the coco. It feels good to hold. He's glad they haven't taken it away from him yet.

He was able to ignore his hunger for a long time, but then his stomach growls even though he didn't want it to. He's starting to think he might not be punished for things, but...he hopes they don't punish him for letting his stomach growl.

The commander bites on an object and then holds it out to him. 3234 takes the object. He doesn't know what to do with it. The one who says things he understands sometimes tells him he's supposed to eat it, so he bites it, but apparently that was wrong - he was only supposed to eat the substance inside, not the entire object. He got it wrong, but no one gets angry or punishes him. He sucks at the substance inside the object. He's not expecting the texture or the taste, so it makes him choke at first, but then he figures out how to suck it properly. It has that good taste again, like the flake and the drink. It's good.

When the vehicle stops, one of the humans tries to take 3234 away from the commander. 3234 panics - he's not supposed to resist or disobey, but the commander was the one who stopped him from being decommissioned and the commander has been gentle with him and has not punished him yet. If...if they take him away...maybe he'll never see the commander again. He knows it's wrong to resist, but he's scared and he can't stop himself from clinging to the commander even if he's punished.

He's not punished. The commander holds him and takes him away instead. The commander shuts them into a small room with a toilet. This time, 3234 understands better what to do, but he's still glad that the commander helps him. He feels relieved when he's finished. He risks putting his face in the commander's chest and the commander doesn't push him away. The commander's heartbeat is soothing.

Back at the vehicle, the other humans are holding objects. The objects are cylinders with much smaller cylinders sticking out of them, and the human 3234 can understand sometimes explains that he's supposed to suck on the smaller cylinders.

3234 obeys. The substances inside the larger cylinders taste interesting, and they have the same good taste as the flake and the drink. But then...but then...all of a sudden a pain shoots through his head, and here it is at last. He's being punished for all the things he's done wrong. He wants to cry. He knew he was going to be punished, but it still hurts, anyway, in his chest as well as in his head.

But...the humans aren't angry. The female who makes her voice swoop talks to him almost anxiously and rubs his temples. It makes his head feel a little better, and the pain slowly fades.

"The 'smoothies' are cold, so you have to drink them slowly," the one who says things he understands sometimes explains. "If you drink cold things too quickly, you might get a headache like the one you just experienced."

They hold more cylinders to his mouth. He's scared because he's afraid it will hurt again, that they're not finished punishing him, but he manages to obey, anyway. He sips slowly, and the good taste comes but the pain doesn't.

All the substances so far have tasted similar, but a little different in ways he can't describe. The new one they put to his mouth tastes - it tastes like _food_ , only much better. He eagerly sucks some more, hoping he'll be permitted enough food to make the hunger stop.

No one takes the cylinder away from him, so he tries to keep swallowing the substance, but he's tired. The commander is holding him and the coco is in his hand, he's warm and not hurting and...things are good. He falls asleep.

**A few years later:**

Ignis is waiting for them on the Citadel steps when they get out of the car. "Aw," Noct complains.

Prompto hugs him. "Bye, Noct."

"See you later, Prompto," Noct says. He goes with Ignis, who nods at Prompto before they walk away.

Prompto trots down hallways, calling hello to people he recognizes. He reaches the Crownsguard training room and waves until his dad sees him. Cor gestures in acknowledgment, and Prompto continues on to the private locker room of the king's retinue. He sits down on the floor to wait for his dad and draws pictures to pass the time.

Cor finally comes in, rubbing sweat from his face with a towel. "Hey, kiddo."

"Hi, Dad!"

"How was school?"

"Good. Look, I drew pictures for you."

"Huh. Show me." Cor sits on a bench and Prompto climbs up next to him and shows him the pictures. Cor smiles a little bit, which means he likes them.

"I love you, Dad," Prompto tells him.

Cor kisses the top of his head. "Same."

Prompto smiles. He's glad he has a good dad.

o.o.o

A/N: I never did get anymore ideas for this AU like I thought I would, so I guess this is the end for real! Gonna check this AU off my To Do List and focus on my other fics now.

So, like, I didn't write anything for nearly two months (Promised Land was already written, I simply typed and posted it), then I finally started picking at _Gifts From the Sea_ again but the next chapter has been really difficult, and when I was less than 500 words away from finishing, I randomly decided to pause and finish this project instead. This ended up being difficult, too, but in a boring way rather than a "WHY WON'T IT _WORK_?!" way. X'D Parallel fics are fun to read but a pain to write. But yay, it's finished now! I hope you guys like it. Comments are appreciated~!


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